Deputies look into whether baby boy who died was at an unlicensed day care

A death investigation was launched Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019, after a 2-month-old baby boy stopped breathing at a West Park home and later died, the Broward Sheriff's Office said. (Susannah Bryan)

After a baby boy died, detectives are now investigating whether his caregivers were running an unlicensed day care. County officials on Friday said they have begun their own investigation as well.

On Thursday, the crime scene stretched across a West Park street where the 2-month-old baby had stopped breathing in a home where several other infants and toddlers were, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said.

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Paramedics took the baby boy, identified as Ashton Petion of Hallandale Beach, to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead, a sheriff’s spokeswoman said.

Detectives are trying to determine whether the home at 4620 SW 22nd St. was operating as a day care center, spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright said. “Several other children were in the home, infants and toddlers,” she said.

Broward County’s Child Care Licensing and Enforcement division said it, too, is looking into whether there was unlicensed child care.

“We have initiated our investigation and if it is determined that this provider was subject to licensure as a family child care home, a Notice of Violation and Cease and Desist Order will be imposed as well as an administrative fine,” William Karp, division manager, said in an email Friday.

The fine could be as much as $250, he said, and become doubled if a provider were to continue to operate illegally — and face criminal charges.

Through the years, South Florida has seen child deaths in unlicensed homes. In 2000, a 10-month-old baby boy was one of eight children being cared for in a home in Sunrise when he died. Authorities warned that had it been licensed by the county at the time, there would have been more caregivers required on site. And in the year prior, a 5-week-old boy died after being crushed by other children at a home west of Boca Raton. The day care owner pleaded guilty to felony child neglect.

The Child Care Licensing and Enforcement division didn’t reply Friday to questions about how often it encounters unlicensed day care centers.

On Thursday in West Park, deputies and Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue crews responded to a 911 call shortly after 3 p.m., Coleman-Wright said. She could not say who found the baby unconscious or whether the child was found in a crib or elsewhere.

County and other public records show the home is owned by the estate of Lois Terrell, who died in 2017. Neighbors say since her death, her adult daughter has lived in the home. A woman who walked inside the house Friday declined to comment.

The baby will undergo an autopsy to help determine the cause of death.

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com or 954-572-2008 or Twitter @LisaHuriash